Disclaimer- I do not own. Sadly, Neji and Gaara and all the other wonderful pretty boys of Naruto are not mine to adore, but I think I'll adore them anyway. ;) Yeah, this disclaimer counts for the rest of the chappies here too, so I won't have to waste time telling you.

.x.x.x.

Shooting Star

His hand twitched in impatience. He would not knock a second time. She knew he was there. What the hell was taking so long. He thought about just walking in and rolling her out of bed, but he was Hyuuga Neji, and he was not that rude. He sighed. She sure did like taking her time.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long, Neji!" Tenten finally opened the door, a smile on her face.

He sighed and shook his head.

"No."

"Well, I know why you're here, so should we get going?"

"Yeah."

He turned, Tenten following close behind. It was amazing how well she knew him already. He didn't even have to say anything and she already knew his intentions.

"The usual field, I guess?"

He nodded, an amused look on his face. Just like Tenten, she was ready to train anytime. He glanced up at the sky, the moon glittering brightly. She'd even come to train in the middle of the night, when they were supposed to be sleeping. But ever since he let it slip he trained like this to release stress, she'd made no objections.

His eyes narrowed as they got closer to the field. He hated being stuck in the Hyuuga clan like he was, unable to relax in his own house. It wasn't worth calling it a home. He had to watch every step he took, every move he made. It was taxing. His ninja team felt more like family then his own flesh and blood.

"Neji."

"Ah?" He turned, eyebrows raised.

"We're here."

He turned, startled. They were standing in the middle of the field Team Gai used on a regular basis. The only reason he was okay with waking Tenten up and depriving her of rest was the fact that they had the day off the next day, so she wasn't going to be fatigued for any extensive training.

"So we are."

She giggled, and he made a quick rotation, but she was already gone. As usual, his moves were easy for her to read after training together for so long. But just because she could read him didn't mean she could beat him.

A hailstorm of kunai and shuriken rained from the trees, which he stopped easily with a rotation. Typical opening move. He knew her weapon arsenal was full of things much more deadly than a few basic ninja tools.

"Byakugan!" He readied himself, knowing more was coming.

"Pulling out the big guns already?"

He smirked slightly. She knew she wouldn't have a chance fighting him close range now.

'There.' He was off in an instant, launching himself at the trees.

Another wave of weapons were was flying at him, but only as a distraction. She needed the time to change her location and get out of range again. He dodged and landed in the middle of the field, searching.

Their spar continued, each making very little contact with the opponent. Nowadays it was more of a 'who could wear out the other fighter first?' kind of battle. Neji had come out on top more times than he could care to count, but Tenten was getting better at her weapons fighting. She rarely had to move, with her weapons doing all the fighting for her. She was coming up the winner more often these days.

Tenten dropped from the trees suddenly, and Neji puzzled. This was a new move for her. It usually took more time then this to get her out of hiding. But he wasn't about to complain, this gave him a much greater chance of landing a hit. He launched himself forward, preparing to block her chakra points.

"Neji. Look!"

He skidded to a halt, mere inches from where she stood. She was staring at the sky, wonder in her coffee brown eyes. He frowned.

"What are you staring at?" He turned his head in the direction of her gaze, and his own eyes widened in awe.

"Isn't it beautiful?" She smiled, and it seemed her thoughts were thousands of miles away, soaring with the shooting stars that blazed in the sky.

He glanced at her and then back at the sky, something tingling briefly in his chest at the sky reflecting in her eyes. He brushed it away for thought later, and the calm of the night swept over him as he watched the meteor shower with Tenten.

The lights finally made their last show and disappeared, and the stars glittered in diamond clusters around the moon. It was a beautiful night, and he almost didn't see it, if it weren't for Tenten.

"Do you want to keep going?" She broke through his thoughts, and he turned his eyes from the sky.

She spun a kunai knife casually around her finger, that same starry smile on her face. It didn't seem like she had completely pulled out of her sky dreams yet. He paused for a moment, and then shook his head.

"No. We'll just call it a draw. Besides, it seems there are other ways of relaxing away my stress." A tiny smile tugged at his lips as he glanced at the stars and then back to his sparring partner.

"Oh, alright then. It seems I'll get some sleep after all!" She grinned and tucked her kunai knife back in her weapons pouch.

"You don't have to spar with me, you know." He frowned, wondering if it would be best if he stopped going to her for a midnight spar.

It couldn't be healthy, depriving her of rest even if they did have a day off.

"I know, but I want to. It helps you, and it helps me too." She smiled, her eyes on the stars as they walked out of the training grounds.

"It helps you?" He puzzled, giving her a sidelong glance. He didn't know if she realized he was staring at her or not.

"Sure. All this extra training doesn't go to waste, you know!" She laughed as she met his gaze, and he held it for a moment before turning his eyes to the ground.

"Ah."

They reached the point where she turned down a different street, and she waved once.

"I'll see you later, then? I mean, hopefully next time it'll be during the day!" He cracked a small smile just for her and nodded.

"Yeah."

He watched her walk her own road for a moment, and then turned down his own. He remembered the feeling he had when he looked at her earlier, and wondered what it meant. He pressed his hand to his chest, puzzling.

'A shooting star…'

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

So….welcome!! This be my sort-of chappie fic for you NejiTen fans! Every chapter can be read as a fluffy, random oneshot, but when you put them all together they will be snapshots Tenten and Neji remember the most from the time they started liking each other to their….well, we'll see when it happens, no? n.n So please, enjoy! Also, it's my first time with these two, so if I screw something up you'll know why. XD I wasn't planning on uploading this for a while until I got some more chappies done, but I figure I need something to commemorate the New Year with. This was chapter one, Neji's first romantic feeling. XD

Reviews are welcome, as always! ;)

Mistoffelees Shadow